JP7589362B2 - PHYSICAL DOWNLINK CONTROL CHANNEL TRANSMISSION METHOD AND RELATED APPARATUS - Patent application - Google Patents

Description

This application relates to the field of wireless local area network technology, and in particular to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission method and related device.

In the related art, larger subcarrier spacing has been proposed, for example, 240 kHz, 480 kHz, 960 kHz, or even 1920 kHz subcarrier spacing, which increases the maximum number of fast Fourier transform (FFT) points and satisfies the increasingly higher requirements for data demodulation delay.

However, in the new radio (NR) system, the shared channel is scheduled on a slot basis (with 14 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols) in time, or on a minislot basis (with 2 to 13 OFDM symbols) in time. The duration of a slot is determined by the Subcarrier Spacing (SCS). The larger the subcarrier spacing, the shorter the slot duration.

In the existing NR system, a frame is defined as 10 ms. When the subcarrier spacing is 120 kHz, a frame may contain 80 slots. If the network device sets the period for monitoring the PDCCH by the terminal device to be 40 slots, sets the offset to be 10 slots, and sets the monitoring period to be 3 slots, the terminal device must monitor the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in slots {10, 11, 12} (m = 0) of frame 0, slots {50, 51, 52} (m = 1) of frame 0, slots {10, 11, 12} (m = 2) of frame 1, slots {50, 51, 52} (m = 3) of frame 1, etc.

When the data subcarrier spacing increases from 120 kHz in the existing NR system to 480 kHz or 960 kHz, the duration of one slot is slightly shortened. If the PDCCH monitoring period and monitoring period are set to the same as those set when the subcarrier spacing is 120 kHz, when the subcarrier spacing is 480 kHz, the PDCCH monitoring frequency is four times that when the subcarrier spacing is 120 kHz, and the monitoring interval between multiple consecutive monitoring is 1/4 of 120 kHz. Furthermore, when the subcarrier spacing is 960 kHz, the monitoring frequency is eight times that when the subcarrier spacing is 120 kHz, and the monitoring interval between multiple consecutive monitoring is 1/8 of 120 kHz. High requirements are placed on the monitoring capability of the terminal device. In the related art, multi-slot monitoring has been proposed. Specifically, the number of slots in the interval between two adjacent monitoring in one monitoring period is increased.

In multi-slot monitoring, the monitoring interval between two consecutive monitoring times in a monitoring period may be increased. If the number of symbols for transmitting PDCCH at one time is limited to be less than three, the number of PDCCHs that can be monitored is limited and it cannot be ensured that enough users are served. In order to ensure the number of terminals that can detect PDCCH, the number of PDCCHs needs to be increased. For example, the maximum of three time domain symbols for transmitting PDCCH is increased to a maximum of 12 or 24. In order to maintain the proportion of symbols used to monitor PDCCH in multiple slots, the number of symbols used to monitor PDCCH needs to be increased. This increases the complexity of PDCCH monitoring for terminal devices.

The embodiments of the present application provide a physical downlink control channel transmission method and related apparatus in a large subcarrier scenario such that sufficient users can be served and the increased complexity of monitoring the PDCCH by the terminal device can be avoided.

According to a first aspect, the present application provides a physical downlink control channel transmission method, comprising:
A network device transmits a resource configuration, the resource configuration indicating time domain resources to be used by the network device for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission;
The network device transmits a PDCCH of a first terminal device on a first time domain resource among time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, and transmits a PDCCH of a second terminal device on a second time domain resource among time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

According to the technical solution of the present application, the PDCCH is transmitted separately to different terminal devices on different time domain resources. In this way, when the number of symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is increased to meet the requirements of multiple users, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH on a part of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, and the increase in the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device can also be avoided, thereby improving the multi-slot scheduling efficiency.

The location of the first time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the first terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed manner by the first terminal device and the network device. The location of the second time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the second terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed manner by the second terminal device and the network device.

In a possible implementation, the symbols of the first time domain resource are consecutive and the symbols of the second time domain resource are consecutive. In other words, the symbols of the time domain resources in a group are consecutive. In this way, the terminal device can monitor the PDCCH in multiple consecutive symbols, so that an increase in the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device can be more effectively avoided.

In another possible implementation, the resources of the first time domain resource are separated and the symbols of the second time domain resource are also separated. For example, the symbols of the first time domain resource and the symbols of the second time domain resource are spaced apart in a comb-like fashion. In this way, the time span of the first time domain resource can be increased and the time span of the second time domain resource can also be increased, thereby improving the robustness of PDCCH monitoring in time-varying channels and increasing the probability of successful PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device.

In some implementations, the resource configuration further includes a first time domain resource configuration, the first time domain resource configuration including a starting symbol of the first time domain resource and a number of symbols of the first time domain resource. In this manner, the first terminal device may determine a position of the first time domain resource based on the first time domain resource configuration and monitor the PDCCH on the first time domain resource.

In some implementations, the resource configuration is conveyed in fields within the search space and/or in the control-resource set (CORESET) field.

In a possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first field can indicate the absolute position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource in the PDCCH monitoring span, the position of the first time domain resource is highly flexible, and the first terminal device can directly obtain the position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource according to the first field.

In another possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is carried in a second field in the search space, and the length of the second field is _Smax , where _Smax is the maximum number of slots included in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. In this way, the first symbol of the first time domain resource can be limited only to the first symbol of the slot. In this case, the second field only needs to indicate the position of the slot in which the first resource is located in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, in order to increase the indication granularity and shorten the length of the field indicating the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource, helping to reduce the signaling overhead.

In some implementations, the first time domain resource configuration includes an offset corresponding to the first time domain resource, where the offset indicates a starting symbol in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission of a starting symbol of the first time domain resource. In this solution, the network device indicates a starting symbol of the first time domain resource by indicating an offset corresponding to the first time domain resource. The first terminal device can obtain the starting symbol of the first time domain resource based on the offset.

In a possible implementation, the search space or CORESET includes a field indicating an offset. In this way, the first terminal device can obtain an offset based on the field to obtain the starting symbol of the first time domain resource.

In another possible implementation, the search space includes a first CORESET set associated with the search space, the first CORESET set includes an offset, and the CORESET includes a field indicating the number of the first CORESET set. In this way, the offset is indicated by an existing field. This helps reduce instruction overhead.

In some implementations, the first time domain resource is determined based on one or more of an identifier of the first terminal device, a slot index, or an amount of monitoring time in the current period. In this manner, the overhead of indicating the first time domain resource configuration by the network device to the first terminal device may be reduced.

In some implementations, the number of symbols of the first time domain resource is different from the number of symbols of the second time domain resource. In this way, the grouping of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is more flexible, so that actual requirements can be better accommodated.

In some implementations, the number of symbols of the first time domain resource is positively correlated with the aggregation level corresponding to the first time domain resource. In this solution, the network device and the first terminal device can determine the location of the first time domain resource based on the aggregation level. Alternatively, the network device and the first terminal device can determine the aggregation level based on the location of the first time domain resource. This helps reduce signaling overhead.

In some implementations, the symbols of the first time domain resource belong to one slot. In this way, the first terminal device can be prevented from monitoring the PDCCH across slots, and the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring is reduced.

It should be understood that the implementation of the first time domain resource is also used for the second time domain resource and the details will not be described again.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a PDCCH transmission method, comprising:
A terminal device receives a resource configuration, the resource configuration including a time domain resource used by the network device to transmit a PDCCH;
The terminal device monitors its PDCCH in a portion of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

According to the technical solution of the present application, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH in a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission. In this way, the increase in the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device can also be avoided when the number of symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is increased to meet the requirements of multiple users.

The location of the portion of the time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the terminal device or may be obtained in an agreed upon manner by the terminal device and the network device.

In some implementations, the resource configuration further includes a first time domain resource configuration indicating a portion of a time domain resource, the first time domain resource configuration including a starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resource and a number of symbols of the portion of the time domain resource. In this manner, the terminal device may determine a position of the portion of the time domain resource based on the first time domain resource configuration and monitor the PDCCH on the portion of the time domain resource .

In some implementations, resource settings are carried in fields within the search space and/or in fields of the CORESET.

In a possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the time domain resource portion is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first field can indicate the absolute position of the starting symbol of the time domain resource portion in the PDCCH monitoring span, the position of the time domain resource portion is highly flexible, and the terminal device can directly obtain the position of the starting symbol of the time domain resource portion based on the first field.

In another possible implementation, the first OFDM symbol of the portion of the time domain resources is the starting symbol of the slot, and the setting of the starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resources is carried in a second field in the search space, the length of the second field is _Smax , where _Smax is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first symbol of the portion of the time domain resources can be restricted to only the first symbol of the slot. In this case, the second field only needs to indicate the position of the slot in which the first resource is located in the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, in order to increase the indication granularity and shorten the length of the field indicating the setting of the starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resources, helping to reduce the signaling overhead.

In some implementations, the first time domain resource configuration includes an offset corresponding to the first time domain resource, where the offset indicates a starting symbol in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission of a starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resource . In this solution, the network device indicates a starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resource by indicating an offset corresponding to the portion of the time domain resource . The terminal device can obtain the starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resource based on the offset.

In a possible implementation, the search space includes a field indicating an offset, such that the terminal device can obtain an offset based on the field to obtain a starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resource .

In another possible implementation, the search space includes a first CORESET set associated with the search space, the first CORESET set includes an offset, and the CORESET includes a field indicating the number of the first CORESET set. In this way, the offset is indicated by an existing field. This helps reduce signaling overhead.

In some implementations, before the terminal device monitors the PDCCH of the terminal device on the portion of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, the method further includes the terminal device determining the portion of the time domain resources based on one or more of an identifier of the terminal device, a slot index, or an amount of monitoring time in the current period. With this solution, the terminal device does not need to receive from the network device the first time domain resource configuration indicating the portion of the time domain resources , so that the overhead of indicating the first time domain resource configuration by the network device to the first terminal device can be reduced.

In some implementations, the number of symbols of a portion of a time domain resource is positively correlated with the aggregation level corresponding to the portion of the time domain resource. In this solution, the network device and the terminal device can determine the location of the portion of the time domain resource based on the aggregation level. Alternatively, the network device and the terminal device can determine the aggregation level based on the location of the portion of the time domain resource . This helps to reduce signaling overhead.

In some implementations, the symbols of a portion of the time domain resource belong to one slot. In this way, the terminal device can be prevented from monitoring the PDCCH across slots, and the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring is reduced.

It should be understood that the implementation of the portion of the time domain resource may also be used for other portions of the time domain resource monitored by other terminal devices , and details will not be described again.

According to a third aspect, the present application provides a PDCCH transmission method, comprising:
The network device transmits a resource configuration, the resource configuration including a first time-domain resource configuration and a second time-domain resource configuration, the first time-domain resource configuration indicating a first time-domain resource, and the second time-domain resource configuration indicating a second time-domain resource;
The method further includes: the network device transmitting a PDCCH to the first terminal device on the first time domain resource and transmitting a PDCCH to the second terminal device on the second time domain resource.

In this solution, the time domain resources used for transmitting the PDCCH are divided into a first time domain resource and a second time domain resource. In this way, when the number of symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is increased to satisfy the requirements of multiple users, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH on a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, and an increase in the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring can also be avoided.

The location of the first time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the first terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed manner by the first terminal device and the network device. The location of the second time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the second terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed manner by the second terminal device and the network device.

In a possible implementation, the symbols of the first time domain resource are consecutive and the symbols of the second time domain resource are consecutive. In other words, the symbols of the time domain resources in a group are consecutive. In this way, the terminal device can monitor the PDCCH in multiple consecutive symbols, so that an increase in the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device can be more effectively avoided.

In another possible implementation, the resources of the first time domain resource are separated and the symbols of the second time domain resource are also separated. For example, the symbols of the first time domain resource and the symbols of the second time domain resource are spaced apart in a comb-like fashion. In this way, the time span of the first time domain resource can be increased and the time span of the second time domain resource can also be increased, thereby improving the robustness of PDCCH monitoring in time-varying channels and increasing the probability of successful PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device.

In some implementations, the resource configuration is conveyed in fields within the search space and/or in the control-resource set (CORESET) field.

In a possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first field can indicate the absolute position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource in the PDCCH monitoring span, the position of the first time domain resource is highly flexible, and the first terminal device can directly obtain the position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource according to the first field.

According to a fourth aspect, the present application provides a PDCCH transmission method, comprising:
The terminal device receives a first time domain resource configuration from the network device, the first time domain resource configuration including a starting symbol of the first time domain resource and a number of symbols of the first time domain resource , the first time domain resource being a portion of a time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission;
The method further includes: the terminal device monitoring a PDCCH on the first time domain resource based on the first time domain resource configuration.

With this solution, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH in a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, so multi-slot scheduling can be better implemented and increased complexity of PDCCH monitoring in the terminal device can be avoided.

The symbols of the first time domain resource may be contiguous or disjoint.

In a possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource portion is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first field can indicate the absolute position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource within the PDCCH monitoring span, the position of the first time domain resource is highly flexible, and the terminal device can directly obtain the position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource based on the first field.

According to a fifth aspect, an implementation of the present application provides a PDCCH transmission device. The transmission device may be a network device or may be used in a network device. The transmission device includes an input/output unit and a processing unit. The input/output unit may be or may be located in a unit or module capable of implementing an information receiving/transmitting function, such as a transceiver, a transceiver antenna, or an input/output interface. The processing unit may be or may be located in a processor. The input/output unit may include:
Transmitting a resource configuration, the resource configuration indicating time domain resources to be used by the network device for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission;
It is configured to transmit a PDCCH of a first terminal device on a first time domain resource among time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, and to transmit a PDCCH of a second terminal device on a second time domain resource among time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

According to the technical solution of the present application, the PDCCH is transmitted separately to different terminal devices on different time domain resources. In this way, when the number of symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is increased to meet the requirements of multiple users, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH on a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, and the increase in the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device can also be avoided.

The location of the first time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the first terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed manner by the first terminal device and the network device. The location of the second time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the second terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed manner by the second terminal device and the network device.

In a possible implementation, the symbols of the first time domain resource are consecutive and the symbols of the second time domain resource are consecutive. In other words, the symbols of the time domain resources in a group are consecutive. In this way, the terminal device can monitor the PDCCH in multiple consecutive symbols, so that an increase in the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device can be more effectively avoided.

In another possible implementation, the resources of the first time domain resource are separated and the symbols of the second time domain resource are also separated. For example, the symbols of the first time domain resource and the symbols of the second time domain resource are spaced apart in a comb-like fashion. In this way, the time span of the first time domain resource can be increased and the time span of the second time domain resource can also be increased, thereby improving the robustness of PDCCH monitoring in time-varying channels and increasing the probability of successful PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device.

In some implementations, the resource configuration further includes a first time domain resource configuration, the first time domain resource configuration including a starting symbol of the first time domain resource and a number of symbols of the first time domain resource. In this manner, the first terminal device may determine a position of the first time domain resource based on the first time domain resource configuration and monitor the PDCCH on the first time domain resource.

In some implementations, the resource configuration is conveyed in fields within the search space and/or in the control-resource set (CORESET) field.

In a possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first field can indicate the absolute position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource in the PDCCH monitoring span, the position of the first time domain resource is highly flexible, and the first terminal device can directly obtain the position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource according to the first field.

In another possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is carried in a second field in the search space, and the length of the second field is _Smax , where _Smax is the maximum number of slots included in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. In this way, the first symbol of the first time domain resource can be limited only to the first symbol of the slot. In this case, the second field only needs to indicate the position of the slot in which the first resource is located in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, in order to increase the indication granularity and shorten the length of the field indicating the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource, helping to reduce the signaling overhead.

In some implementations, the first time domain resource configuration includes an offset corresponding to the first time domain resource, where the offset indicates a starting symbol in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission of a starting symbol of the first time domain resource. In this solution, the network device indicates a starting symbol of the first time domain resource by indicating an offset corresponding to the first time domain resource. The first terminal device can obtain the starting symbol of the first time domain resource based on the offset.

In a possible implementation, the search space or CORESET includes a field indicating an offset. In this way, the first terminal device can obtain an offset based on the field to obtain the starting symbol of the first time domain resource.

In another possible implementation, the search space includes a first CORESET set associated with the search space, the first CORESET set includes an offset, and the CORESET includes a field indicating the number of the first CORESET set. In this way, the offset is indicated by an existing field. This helps reduce instruction overhead.

In some implementations, the first time domain resource is determined by the processing unit based on one or more of an identifier of the first terminal device, a slot index, or an amount of monitoring time in the current period. In this way, the overhead of indicating the first time domain resource configuration by the network device to the first terminal device may be reduced.

In some implementations, the number of symbols of the first time domain resource is different from the number of symbols of the second time domain resource. In this way, the grouping of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is more flexible, so that actual requirements can be better accommodated.

In some implementations, the number of symbols of the first time domain resource is positively correlated with the aggregation level corresponding to the first time domain resource. In this solution, the network device and the first terminal device can determine the location of the first time domain resource based on the aggregation level. Alternatively, the network device and the first terminal device can determine the aggregation level based on the location of the first time domain resource. This helps reduce signaling overhead.

In some implementations, the symbols of the first time domain resource belong to one slot. In this way, the first terminal device can be prevented from monitoring the PDCCH across slots, and the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring is reduced.

It should be understood that the implementation of the first time domain resource is also used for the second time domain resource and the details will not be described again.

According to a sixth aspect, the present application further provides a PDCCH transmission device. The transmission device may be, but is not limited to, a terminal device, or may be used in a terminal device, but is not limited to such. The transmission device includes an input/output unit and a processing unit. The input/output unit may be, or may be located in, a unit or module capable of implementing an information receiving/transmitting function, such as a transceiver, a transceiver antenna, or an input/output interface. The processing unit may be, or may be located in a processor. The input/output unit may include:
receiving a resource configuration, the resource configuration including time domain resources to be used by the network device to transmit a PDCCH;
The PDCCH is configured to monitor the terminal device's PDCCH during a portion of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

According to the technical solution of the present application, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH in a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission. In this way, the increase in the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device can also be avoided when the number of symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is increased to meet the requirements of multiple users.

The location of the portion of the time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the terminal device or may be obtained in an agreed upon manner by the terminal device and the network device.

In some implementations, the resource configuration further includes a first time domain resource configuration indicating a portion of a time domain resource, the first time domain resource configuration including a starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resource and a number of symbols of the portion of the time domain resource. In this manner, the terminal device may determine a location of the first time domain resource based on the portion of the time domain resource configuration and monitor the PDCCH on the portion of the time domain resource configuration .

In some implementations, resource settings are carried in fields within the search space and/or in fields of the CORESET.

In a possible implementation, the configuration of the starting symbol of the time domain resource configuration part is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first field can indicate the absolute position of the starting symbol of the time domain resource configuration part in the PDCCH monitoring span, the position of the time domain resource configuration part is highly flexible, and the terminal device can directly obtain the position of the starting symbol of the time domain resource configuration part based on the first field.

In another possible implementation, the first OFDM symbol of the portion of the time domain resource is the starting symbol of the slot, and the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is carried in a second field in the search space, the length of the second field is _Smax , where _Smax is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first symbol of the portion of the time domain resource configuration can be limited to only the first symbol of the slot. In this case, the second field only needs to indicate the position of the slot in which the first resource is located in the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, in order to increase the indication granularity and shorten the length of the field indicating the setting of the starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resource configuration, helping to reduce the signaling overhead.

In some implementations, the first time domain resource configuration includes an offset corresponding to a portion of the time domain resource configuration , the offset indicating a starting symbol in the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission of a starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resource configuration. In this solution, the network device indicates a starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resource configuration by indicating an offset corresponding to the portion of the time domain resource configuration . The terminal device can obtain the starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resource configuration based on the offset.

In a possible implementation, the search space includes a field indicating an offset, such that the terminal device can obtain an offset based on the field to obtain a starting symbol of the part of the time domain resource configuration .

In another possible implementation, the search space includes a first CORESET set associated with the search space, the first CORESET set includes an offset, and the CORESET includes a field indicating the number of the first CORESET set. In this way, the offset is indicated by an existing field. This helps reduce signaling overhead.

In some implementations, before the terminal device monitors the PDCCH of the terminal device on a portion of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, the processing unit is configured to determine the portion of the time domain resources based on one or more of an identifier of the terminal device, a slot index, or an amount of monitoring time in the current period. In this solution, the overhead of indicating the first time domain resource configuration by the network device to the first terminal device can be reduced, since the terminal device does not need to receive from the network device a first time domain resource configuration indicating the portion of the time domain resource configuration.

In some implementations, the number of symbols of a portion of a time domain resource is positively correlated with the aggregation level corresponding to the portion of the time domain resource. In this solution, the network device and the terminal device can determine the location of the portion of the time domain resource configuration based on the aggregation level. Alternatively, the network device and the first terminal device can determine the aggregation level based on the location of the portion of the time domain resource configuration . This helps to reduce signaling overhead.

In some implementations, the symbols of a portion of the time domain resource belong to one slot. In this way, the terminal device can be prevented from monitoring the PDCCH across slots, and the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring is reduced.

It should be understood that the implementation of parts of the time domain resource configuration is also used for other parts of the time domain resources monitored by other terminal devices , and the details will not be described again.

According to a seventh aspect, the implementation of the present application further provides a PDCCH transmission device. The transmission device may be a network device or may be used in a network device. The transmission device includes an input/output unit and a processing unit. The input/output unit may be or may be located in a unit or module capable of implementing an information receiving/transmitting function, such as a transceiver, a transceiver antenna, or an input/output interface. The processing unit may be or may be located in a processor. The input/output unit may include:
The method is configured to transmit a resource configuration, the resource configuration including a first time domain resource configuration and a second time domain resource configuration, the first time domain resource configuration indicating a first time domain resource and the second time domain resource configuration indicating a second time domain resource, and to transmit a PDCCH to a first terminal device on the first time domain resource and to transmit a PDCCH to a second terminal device on the second time domain resource.

In this solution, the time domain resources used for transmitting the PDCCH are divided into a first time domain resource and a second time domain resource. In this way, when the number of symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is increased to satisfy the requirements of multiple users, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH on a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, and an increase in the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring can also be avoided.

The location of the first time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the first terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed manner by the first terminal device and the network device. The location of the second time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the second terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed manner by the second terminal device and the network device.

In a possible implementation, the symbols of the first time domain resource are consecutive and the symbols of the second time domain resource are consecutive. In other words, the symbols of the time domain resources in a group are consecutive. In this way, the terminal device can monitor the PDCCH in multiple consecutive symbols, so that an increase in the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device can be more effectively avoided.

In another possible implementation, the resources of the first time domain resource are separated and the symbols of the second time domain resource are also separated. For example, the symbols of the first time domain resource and the symbols of the second time domain resource are spaced apart in a comb-like fashion. In this way, the time span of the first time domain resource can be increased and the time span of the second time domain resource can also be increased, thereby improving the robustness of PDCCH monitoring in time-varying channels and increasing the probability of successful PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device.

In some implementations, the resource configuration is conveyed in fields within the search space and/or in the control-resource set (CORESET) field.

In a possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first field can indicate the absolute position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource in the PDCCH monitoring span, the position of the first time domain resource is highly flexible, and the first terminal device can directly obtain the position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource according to the first field.

According to an eighth aspect, the present application further provides a PDCCH transmission device. The transmission device may be, but is not limited to, a terminal device, or may be used in a terminal device, but is not limited to such. The transmission device includes an input/output unit and a processing unit. The input/output unit may be, or may be located in, a unit or module capable of implementing an information receiving/transmitting function, such as a transceiver, a transceiver antenna, or an input/output interface. The processing unit may be, or may be located in a processor. The input/output unit may include:
receiving a first time domain resource configuration from the network device, the first time domain resource configuration including a starting symbol of the first time domain resource and a number of symbols of the first time domain resource , the first time domain resource being a portion of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission;
The mobile station is configured to monitor a PDCCH on the first time domain resource based on the first time domain resource configuration.

With this solution, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH in a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, so multi-slot scheduling can be better implemented and increased complexity of PDCCH monitoring in the terminal device can be avoided.

The symbols of the first time domain resource may be contiguous or disjoint.

In a possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource portion is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first field can indicate the absolute position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource within the PDCCH monitoring span, the position of the first time domain resource is highly flexible, and the terminal device can directly obtain the position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource based on the first field.

According to a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communications device. The communications device includes a processor, the processor coupled to a memory. When the processor executes a computer program or instructions in the memory, a method of any of the implementations of the first aspect is performed.

Optionally, the communication device further comprises a memory.

Optionally, the communication device further comprises a communication interface, the processor being coupled to the communication interface.

Optionally, there are one or more processors and one or more memories.

Optionally, the memory may be integrated with the processor, or the memory and the processor may be located separately.

Optionally, the transceiver may include a transmitter machine (transmitter) and a receiver machine (receiver).

In an implementation, the communication device is a network device or a terminal device. When the communication device is a network device or a terminal device, the communication interface may be a transceiver or an input/output interface. Optionally, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input/output interface may be an input/output circuit.

In other implementations, the communications device is a chip or chip system. When the communications device is a chip or chip system, the communications interface may be an input/output interface, interface circuitry, output circuitry, input circuitry, pins, associated circuitry, etc. on the chip or in the chip system. The processor may alternatively be embodied as a processing circuit or logic circuitry.

According to a tenth aspect, the present application provides a communication system. The communication system includes the transmission device of the fifth aspect and the transmission device of the sixth aspect, or the communication system includes the transmission device of the seventh aspect and the transmission device of the eighth aspect.

According to an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes a computer program (sometimes called code or instructions). When executed, the computer program enables a computer to perform a method of any of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects.

According to a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program (sometimes called code or instructions). When the computer program is executed on a computer, the computer can perform a method of any of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects.

In accordance with a thirteenth aspect, the present application further provides a circuit including a processor and an interface and configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in a memory to perform a method of any possible implementation of the first or fourth aspect.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a PDCCH transmission scenario according to the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; 1 is a schematic flowchart of a PDCCH transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of CCE group numbering according to an embodiment of the present application. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of CCE group numbering according to an embodiment of the present application. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another PDCCH transmission scenario according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a PDCCH transmission device according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another PDCCH transmission device according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another PDCCH transmission device according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another PDCCH transmission device according to an embodiment of the present application;

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication system includes a network device and a plurality of terminal devices (e.g., terminal device 121 and terminal device 122 in FIG. 1). Terminal device 121 and terminal device 122 can communicate with network device 11.

The communication system may be a communication system that supports a fourth generation (4G) access technology, such as a long term evolution (LTE) access technology. Alternatively, the communication system may be a communication system that supports a fifth generation (5G) access technology, such as a new radio (NR) access technology. Alternatively, the communication system may be a communication system that supports a third generation (3G) access technology, such as a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) access technology. Alternatively, the communication system may be a communication system that supports a second generation (2G) access technology, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) access technology. Alternatively, the communication system may be a communication system that supports multiple radio technologies, such as LTE technology and NR technology. Furthermore, the communication system may be used with future-oriented communication technologies.

The network device 111 in FIG. 1 may be a next generation nodeB (gNB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a relay node, an access point (AP), etc. in a communication system based on 5G or future generation access technology.

The terminal device in FIG. 1 may be a device that provides voice or data connectivity to a user. For example, the terminal device may be called user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, or terminal equipment (TE). The terminal may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet computer (pad), etc. With the development of wireless communication technology, a device that can access a communication system, a device that can communicate with a network side in a communication system, or a device that can communicate with other objects by using a communication system may be a terminal of the embodiment of the present application, for example, a terminal and a vehicle in intelligent transportation, a household device in a smart home, an electric meter reader in a smart grid, a voltage monitor, an environment monitor, a video monitor in an intelligent security network, or an automated teller machine. In an embodiment of the present application, a terminal may communicate with a network device, for example, network device 111 or network device 112. Multiple terminals may communicate with each other. A terminal may be fixed or mobile.

Figure 2A is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network device. For the structure of the network device of this embodiment of the present application, please refer to the structure shown in Figure 2A.

The network device includes at least one processor 1111, at least one transceiver 1113, at least one network interface 1114, and one or more antennas 1115. Optionally, the network device further includes at least one memory 1112. The processor 1111, the memory 1112, the transceiver 1113, and the network interface 1114 are connected to each other, for example, by using a bus. The antenna 1115 is connected to the transceiver 1113. The network interface 1114 is configured to allow the network device to be connected to other communication devices through a communication link. For example, the network device is connected to the core network element 101 through an S1 interface. In this embodiment of the present application, the connection may include various types of interfaces, transmission lines, buses, etc. This is not limited in the present application.

The processor of this embodiment of the present application, for example processor 1111, may include at least one of the following types: a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or an integrated circuit configured to perform logical operations. For example, processor 1111 may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. The at least one processor 1111 may be integrated into one chip or may be located on multiple different chips.

The memory of this embodiment of the present application, for example memory 1112, may include at least one of the following types: read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device capable of storing static information and instructions, random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device capable of storing information and instructions, or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). In some scenarios, the memory may alternatively be a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other compact disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact optical disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), magnetic disc storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the expected program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. However, the memory is not limited to these.

The memory 1112 may exist independently and be connected to the processor 1111. Optionally, the memory 1112 may alternatively be integrated with the processor 1111, for example integrated in a chip. The memory 1112 may store program code for executing the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and the processor 1111 controls the execution. The various types of computer program code executed may also be considered as drivers for the processor 1111. For example, the processor 1111 is configured to execute the computer program code stored in the memory 1112 to implement the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

The transceiver 1113 may be configured to support reception or transmission of radio frequency signals between the network device and the terminal, and the transceiver 1113 may be connected to an antenna 1115.

The transceiver 1113 includes a transmitter Tx and a receiver Rx. Specifically, one or more antennas 1115 may receive a radio frequency signal. The receiver Rx of the transceiver 1113 is configured to receive a radio frequency signal from the antenna, convert the radio frequency signal into a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal, and provide the digital baseband signal or the digital intermediate frequency signal to the processor 1111, whereby the processor 1111 further processes, for example, demodulates or decodes, the digital baseband signal or the digital intermediate frequency signal. Furthermore, the transmitter Tx of the transceiver 1113 is further configured to receive a modulated digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal from the processor 1111, convert the modulated digital baseband signal or the digital intermediate frequency signal into a radio frequency signal, and transmit the radio frequency signal by one or more antennas 1115. Specifically, the receiver Rx may selectively perform one or more stages of frequency downmixing and analog-to-digital conversion on the radio frequency signal to obtain a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal. The order of the frequency downmixing process and the analog-to-digital conversion process is adjustable. The transmitter Tx may selectively perform one or more stages of frequency upmixing process and digital-to-analog conversion process on the modulated digital baseband signal or the modulated digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain a radio frequency signal. The order of the frequency upmixing process and the digital-to-analog conversion process is adjustable. The digital baseband signal and the digital intermediate frequency signal may be collectively referred to as a digital signal.

The transceiver 1113 may also be understood as an input/output unit.

Optionally, the network device 111 may include a baseband unit (BBU), a radio remote unit (RRU), and an antenna. The BBU is connected to the RRU, and the RRU is connected to the antenna.

Optionally, the network device 112 may include a baseband unit (BBU), a radio remote unit (RRU), and an antenna. The BBU is connected to the RRU, and the RRU is connected to the antenna.

Figure 2B is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. For the structures of terminal device 121 and terminal device 122, please refer to the structure shown in Figure 2B.

The terminal device includes at least one processor 1211 and at least one transceiver 1212. Optionally, the terminal device 121 may further include at least one memory 1213. The processor 1211, the memory 1213, and the transceiver 1212 are connected to each other. Optionally, the terminal device 121 may further include an output device 1214, an input device 1215, and one or more antennas 1216. The antenna 1216 is connected to the transceiver 1212, and the output device 1214 and the input device 1215 are connected to the processor 1211.

For transceiver 1212, memory 1213, and antenna 1216, please refer to the relevant description in FIG. 2A as they implement similar functions.

The processor 1211 may be a baseband processor or a CPU. The baseband processor and the CPU may be integrated or separate.

The processor 1211 may be configured to perform various functions of the terminal device 121, such as to process communication protocols and communication data, or to control the terminal device 121, execute software programs, process data for the software programs, or assist in completing computational tasks, such as graphics and image processing or audio processing. Alternatively, the processor 1211 is configured to perform one or more of the above functions.

The output device 1214 may communicate with the processor 1211 and display information in a number of ways. For example, the output device 1214 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display device, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device, a projector, etc. The input device 1215 may communicate with the processor 1211 and receive user input in a number of ways. For example, the input device 1215 may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensing device.

In the access technology, the network device first configures the time domain resources used to transmit the PDCCH for the terminal device, the terminal device monitors the time domain resources used to transmit the PDCCH to acquire the PDCCH, acquires related scheduling information of the PDSCH (e.g., slots for scheduling and transmission of the PDSCH), and then receives the PDSCH based on the acquired scheduling information.

However, in the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in Figure 3, the absolute duration of a slot is negatively correlated with the subcarrier spacing. In other words, the larger the subcarrier spacing, the shorter the absolute duration of a slot and therefore the shorter the absolute duration of a symbol.

In scenarios where the subcarrier spacing is large (e.g., the subcarrier spacing is 480 kHz or more), multi-slot monitoring usually needs to be implemented. A PDCCH monitoring span or monitoring window includes multiple slots, and a network device may transmit PDCCH only in some slots within one monitoring span. For example, when the subcarrier spacing is 480 kHz, the PDCCH monitoring span includes four slots. When the subcarrier spacing is 960 kHz, the PDCCH monitoring span includes eight slots. The PDCCH monitoring span may also be referred to as a monitoring span. In this application, the monitoring span may also be understood as a monitoring window. In this application, the monitoring span is used for explanation.

For example, the monitoring period K _s is 40 slots, the monitoring offset O _s is 10 slots, and the monitoring slot length T
In the scenario of single slot monitoring, or a scenario where the monitoring span contains one slot, the following is explained.

When the SCS is 120 kHz, one frame includes 80 slots, and frame 0 {10, 11, 12}, frame 0 {50, 51, 52}, frame 1 {10, 11, 12}, frame 1 {50, 51, 52}, etc. are used by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring. For example, frame 0 {10, 11, 12} refers to slot 10, slot 11, and slot 12 in frame 0. Slot 10 is the PDCCH monitoring span, slot 11 is the PDCCH monitoring span, slot 12 is the PDCCH monitoring span, slot 50 is the PDCCH monitoring span, slot 51 is the PDCCH monitoring span, and slot 52 is the PDCCH monitoring span.

When the SCS is 480 kHz, one frame contains 320 slots, and frame 0 {10, 11, 12}, frame 0 {50, 51, 52}, frame 0 {90, 91, 92}, ..., frame 0 {290, 291, 292}, frame 1 {10, 11, 12}, frame 1 {50, 51, 52}, etc. are used by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring. Slot 10 is the PDCCH monitoring span, slot 11 is the PDCCH monitoring span, slot 12 is the PDCCH monitoring span, slot 50 is the PDCCH monitoring span, slot 51 is the PDCCH monitoring span, and slot 52 is the PDCCH monitoring span.

When the SCS is 960 kHz, one frame contains 640 slots, and frame 0 {10, 11, 12}, frame 0 {50, 51, 52}, frame 0 {90, 91, 92}, ..., frame 0 {610, 611, 612}, frame 1 {10, 11, 12}, frame 1 {50, 51, 52}, etc. are used by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring.

When the SCS is 480 kHz, the time between the braces is 1/4 of that of 120 kHz, and the time between two digits is 1/4 of that when the SCS is 120 kHz. Specifically, compared with 120 kHz, the monitoring frequency is significantly increased with the large subcarrier spacing, and the time interval between the first symbols of two adjacent monitoring spans in one monitoring period is obviously shortened. This increases the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device. Therefore, it is proposed to increase the number of slots included in the monitoring span with the large subcarrier spacing, and increase the time interval between two adjacent monitoring spans in one monitoring period, so as to reduce the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device.

For example, _Ks = 40, _Os = 10, and _Ts = 12 (480 kHz) or 24 (960 kHz). In the scenario where the monitoring span includes multiple slots, as described below.

When the SCS is 480 kHz, one frame contains 320 slots, and frame 0 {10, 14, 18}, frame 0 {50, 54, 58}, frame 0 {90, 94, 98}, ..., frame 0 {290, 294, 298}, frame 1 {10, 14, 18}, frame 1 {50, 54, 58}, etc. are used by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring. Slots 10 to 13 are the PDCCH monitoring span, slots 14 to 17 are the PDCCH monitoring span, slots 18 to 21 are the PDCCH monitoring span, slots 50 to 53 are the PDCCH monitoring span, slots 54 to 57 are the PDCCH monitoring span, and slots 58 to 61 are the PDCCH monitoring span. In a scenario where the monitoring span contains multiple slots, it can be seen that only some slots are used for PDCCH transmission in the PDCCH monitoring span. In other words, in the PDCCH monitoring span, only some slots are used by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring.

When the SCS is 960 kHz, one frame contains 640 slots, and frame 0 {10, 18, 26}, frame 0 {50, 58, 66}, frame 0 {90, 99, 106}, ..., frame 0 {610, 618, 626}, frame 1 {10, 18, 26}, frame 1 {50, 58, 66}, etc. are used by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring.

In a scenario where the monitoring span includes multiple slots, if the number of symbols of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH is not changed, the PDCCH cannot carry a sufficient amount of scheduling information, and it is difficult to satisfy the requirements of scheduling and transmitting the user's PDSCH for more users.

When the number of symbols of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH is increased, the number of symbols that each terminal device needs to monitor also increases, i.e., the number of PDCCH candidates that a user needs to monitor increases. As a result, the process of the terminal device monitoring the PDCCH is more complicated.

The present application provides a solution that allows multi-slot scheduling to be better implemented and also avoids the increased complexity of monitoring the PDCCH by the terminal device. As shown in the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in FIG. 4A, in the present application, in a scenario where a network device needs to transmit PDCCH to multiple terminal devices, the network device may group the time domain resources used to transmit the PDCCH. In FIG. 4A, when the subcarrier spacing is equal to or greater than 480 kHz, in the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, symbols with the same padding pattern are used to transmit PDCCH to the group of terminal devices. In this way, the terminal device at the receiving end does not need to perform monitoring on the entire time domain resources used for transmitting PDCCH in the configuration, but only needs to monitor the PDCCH on the time domain resources for the group, thereby avoiding the increased complexity of PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device.

The following describes the technical solution of the present application with reference to the PDCCH transmission method in the embodiment of the present application.

As shown in the schematic flowchart of FIG. 4B, the PDCCH transmission method of the present embodiment may include the following steps:

401: A network device transmits a resource configuration, where the resource configuration indicates time domain resources to be used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

The terminal device receives the resource configuration accordingly.

Specifically, a network device may transmit a resource configuration to multiple terminal devices, and each network device may receive the resource configuration.

For example, the resource configuration may indicate the starting symbol and number of symbols of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

The time domain resource used by a network device for PDCCH transmission is multiple consecutive symbols.

402: The network device transmits a PDCCH of the first terminal device on a first time domain resource among the time domain resources transmitted by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

403: The network device transmits a PDCCH of the second terminal device on a second time domain resource among the time domain resources transmitted by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

The time domain resources used by a network device for PDCCH transmission may be divided into multiple time domain groups, multiple time domain resource intervals, or multiple time domain ranges.

In the present application, a time domain resource group, a time domain resource interval, or a time domain resource range may be understood as a time domain resource that is assigned to a group of terminal devices and used for transmitting a PDCCH to the group of terminal devices. Alternatively, a time domain resource group, a time domain resource interval, or a time domain resource range may be understood as a time domain resource that is assigned to a group of terminal devices and used for PDCCH monitoring by the group of terminal devices.

In this application, PDCCH monitoring may also be understood as PDCCH detection, PDCCH blind detection, etc.

The first time domain resource may also be understood as a first time domain resource group, and the second time domain resource may also be understood as a second time domain resource group. The network device transmits PDCCHs of some terminal devices on the first time domain resource and transmits PDCCHs of other terminal devices on the second time domain resource. It may be understood that the first terminal device is any terminal device among the some terminal devices, and the second terminal device is any terminal device among the other terminal devices.

It may also be understood that the network device transmits the PDCCH to the terminal devices in a grouping manner. The terminal devices are divided into a plurality of user groups. The plurality of user groups include a first user group and a second user group. One user group may correspond to one time domain resource group. The network device transmits the PDCCH in each time domain resource group to the terminal devices in the user group corresponding to each time domain resource group. For example, the first time domain resource group corresponds to the first user group, and the second time domain resource group corresponds to the second user group. The network device transmits the PDCCH of the first user group on the first time domain resource and transmits the PDCCH of the second user group on the second time domain resource.

In this way, terminal devices in each group only need to monitor the PDCCH on the time domain resources corresponding to the user group to which the terminal device belongs, thereby reducing the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring.

It should be understood that in this application, the time domain resource groups and user groups are intended to facilitate description, and there is no restriction that actual time domain resource groups and actual user groups are clearly present. It can also be understood that a portion of the time domain resources is used to transmit PDCCHs of some terminal devices to the some terminal devices, and another portion of the time domain resources is used to transmit PDCCHs of other terminal devices to other terminal devices.

Before step 402, the network device may map the PDCCH transmitted to the first terminal device to a first time domain resource and map the PDCCH transmitted to the second terminal device to a second time domain resource.

404: The first terminal device monitors the first terminal device's PDCCH on the first time domain resource.

In other words, the first terminal device blindly detects the PDCCH of the first terminal device in the first time domain resource.

The first time domain resource may be understood as the time domain resource used by the first terminal device to monitor the PDCCH.

The location of the first time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the first terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed upon manner by the first terminal device and the network device.

405: The second terminal device monitors the second terminal device's PDCCH in the second time domain resource.

In other words, the second terminal device blindly detects the PDCCH of the second terminal device in the second time domain resource.

The second time domain resource may be understood as a time domain resource used by the second terminal device to monitor the PDCCH.

The location of the second time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the second terminal device or may be obtained in an agreed upon manner by the second terminal device and the network device.

Steps 404 and 405 may also be understood as the terminal device monitoring the PDCCH during a portion of the time domain resources used to transmit the PDCCH.

According to the technical solution of the present application, the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission are grouped. In this way, when the number of symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is increased to meet the requirements of multiple users, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH on a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, and the increase in the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring can also be avoided.

As shown in the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in FIG. 5A, in a possible implementation, the symbols of the first time domain resource are consecutive and the symbols of the second time domain resource are also consecutive. In other words, the symbols of the time domain resources in one group are consecutive. In this way, the terminal device can monitor the PDCCH in multiple consecutive symbols, so that the increase in the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device can be more effectively avoided.

As shown in the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in FIG. 5B, in another possible implementation, the symbols of the first time domain resource are also separated and the symbols of the second time domain resource are also separated. For example, the symbols of the first time domain resource and the symbols of the second time domain resource are spaced apart in a comb-like manner. In this way, the time span of the first time domain resource can be increased and the time span of the second time domain resource can also be increased, thereby improving the robustness of PDCCH monitoring in time-varying channels and increasing the probability of successful PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device.

In some cases, the symbols of some time domain resource groups may be contiguous and the symbols of other time domain resource groups are separated.

The location of the first time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the first terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed upon manner by the first terminal device and the network device.

For ease of description, a solution is first provided in which, in implementation, the network device sends resource configurations to the end device.

In implementation, the network device transmits the search space and the control-resource set (CORESET) to the terminal device.

Monitoring slot periodicity and offset in the search space The monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset field indicates the periodicity and offset, and duration indicates the number of slots for which monitoring needs to be performed continuously within one period, and the specific slot for transmitting the PDCCH can be determined by using the two fields.

The monitoringSymbolsWithinSlot field of the intra-slot monitoring symbols in the search space indicates the starting symbol of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH in each slot for transmitting the PDCCH (in other words, the PDCCH monitoring span). The monitoringSymbolsWithinSlot field is 14 bits, and the i-th bit corresponds to the i-th symbol in the slot. In other words, each bit corresponds to one symbol in the slot. When the m-th bit is 1, it indicates that the m-th symbol is the starting symbol of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH in that slot. For example, when the 5th bit of the monitoringSymbolsWithinSlot field is 1, it indicates that the 5th symbol (symbol 4) is the starting symbol of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH.

The control resource set identifier in the search space, controlResourceSetId field, is used to associate the search space with a CORESET, and the duration field in the associated CORESET indicates the number of time domain resource symbols used to transmit the PDCCH in that slot.

The method may also be used to determine the location of the monitoring span in this solution. Specifically, the monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset field in the search space indicates the period and offset, and the duration field indicates the total number of slots included in the monitoring span for which monitoring needs to be performed continuously within one period (in the above example, it corresponds to _Ts = 3 being changed to _Ts = 12 or _Ts = 24). The specific monitoring span for transmitting the PDCCH can be determined by using the two fields.

It should be understood that the first time domain resource is any one of the multiple time domain resource groups, and the second time domain resource is any one of the multiple time domain resource groups that is different from the first time domain resource.

The first terminal device is any terminal device in the first user group corresponding to the first time domain resource. The second terminal device is any terminal device in the second user group corresponding to the second time domain resource.

In this application, the solutions for the first time domain resource are also applicable to the second time domain resource. The second time domain resource will not be described again in this application.

The following describes a solution provided herein in which the network device configures the first time domain resource when the network device transmits the location of the first time domain resource to the first terminal device.

In some implementations, the resource configuration includes a first time domain resource configuration, and the first time domain resource configuration includes a starting symbol of the first time domain resource and a number of symbols of the first time domain resource. The starting symbol of the first time domain resource may be a starting symbol of the first time domain resource within a PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first terminal device can accurately obtain the location of the first time domain resource based on the resource configuration transmitted by the network device to perform blind detection on the PDSCH or receive the PDSCH on the first time domain resource.

Specifically, the resource configuration may be carried in a search space and/or a control-resource set (CORESET). For example, the network device transmits the search space and CORESET to the terminal device, where the search space and/or CORESET includes the resource configuration.

In a possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span. For example, if the maximum allowed subcarrier spacing is 960 kHz, S _max is the number of slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span when the subcarrier spacing is 960 kHz, 8. The first field may be, for example, a PDCCH monitoring start position indication (monitoringSymbolsWithinTimeUnit) field corresponding to all symbols within a monitoring span or time unit obtained by extending the range corresponding to the monitoring symbols within slot field. It should be understood that the first field may have other names. The name of the first field is not limited in this application. The duration field in the CORESET associated with the search space indicates the number of symbols of the first time domain resource.

For example, if the maximum number of slots S _max included in the PDCCH monitoring span is 4, the number of symbols in the first field is 14×4=56.

Within a monitoring period, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH once in S slots (one monitoring span) in _Ts consecutive slots, and the symbols for monitoring the PDCCH in S slots are S×D consecutive symbols, where D is the number of consecutive symbols set in the CORESET associated with the search space, i.e., the value of the Duration field. When the SCS is 120 kHz, S is 1.

In one example, S= ^2μ−μ0 , where _μ0 is an index corresponding to the reference SCS. For example, when the reference SCS is 120 kHz, _μ0 is 3. μ is an index corresponding to the subcarrier spacing of the PDCCH. In this application, an example in which _μ0 is 3 is used for explanation, but _μ0 is not limited to 3.

For example, when the SCS is 480 kHz, μ=5, in which case S=4. When the SCS is 960 kHz, μ=6, in which case S=8. In this way, when the SCS increases, the absolute duration occupied by the number of symbols used to transmit the PDCCH by the network device in each monitoring span can essentially match or remain the same as the absolute duration occupied by the number of symbols used to transmit the PDCCH by the network device with the same settings when the SCS is 120 kHz.

The monitoring span or time unit corresponding to the monitoringSymbolsWithinTimeUnit field may be defined as the slot length used when the SCS is 120 kHz. The time unit may alternatively be changed to a similar meaning such as slot unit, multiple slots, span, or window. Alternatively, the unit of the time unit may be the slot length of the SCS based on other values, or an absolute time length.

For example, in the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in FIG. 6A, the first field in the search space transmitted to the first terminal device is [0,0,0,1,0,0,...], with a total length of 112 bits. If the duration field in the associated CORESET indicates 3, it indicates that the starting symbol of the first time domain resource among the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is the fourth symbol in the monitoring span, and the number of symbols is 3. In other words, the first time domain resource is the fourth to sixth symbols, i.e. symbols 3 to 5 (symbol numbering starts from 0), among the slots in the time domain resources used to transmit the PDCCH.

As another example, in the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in FIG. 6B, in Example 2, the first field in the search space transmitted to the first terminal device is [0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0...], with a total length of 112 bits. If the duration field in the associated CORESET indicates 2, it indicates that the starting symbol of the first time domain resource among the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is the 15th symbol in the monitoring span, and the number of symbols of the first time domain resource is 2. In other words, if the first time domain resource is continuous, the first time domain resource is the 15th and 16th symbols among the slots in the time domain resources used to transmit the PDCCH or in the monitoring span, i.e., symbols 14 and 15 (symbol numbering starts from 0) in the monitoring span, and corresponds to symbols 0 and 1 in the second slot in the monitoring span. The first terminal device monitors the PDCCH at symbols 14 and 15 in the monitoring span.

In this way, the network device can indicate the absolute location of the first time domain resource to the first terminal device, and the location of the first time domain resource is highly flexible. Moreover, since the terminal device does not need to obtain the location of all time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, the overhead of related signaling messages indicating all time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission can be reduced.

It should be understood that in this solution, the resource configuration may not include a configuration of time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. In other words, in this solution, the steps of the PDCCH transmission method may include the following steps:

The network device transmits a resource configuration, where the resource configuration includes a first time domain resource configuration and a second time domain resource configuration, where the first time domain resource configuration indicates the first time domain resource and the second time domain resource configuration indicates the second time domain resource.

The network device transmits a PDCCH to the first terminal device using the first time domain resource and transmits a PDCCH to the second terminal device using the second time domain resource.

The first network device transmits a PDCCH to the first terminal device on the first time domain resource and transmits a PDCCH to the second terminal device on the second time domain resource.

With this solution, when the number of symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is increased to meet the requirements of multiple users, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH in a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, and an increase in the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring can also be avoided.

In another possible implementation, the first symbol of the first time domain resource is the starting symbol of the slot, and the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is carried in a second field in the search space. The second field may indicate the starting symbol of the first time domain resource by indicating the position of the slot in which the first time domain resource is located in the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. The length of the second field is S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span. The second field may be called the monitoringSymbolsWithinTimeUnit field or the monitoringSlotsWithinTimeUnit field. In this solution, the first symbol of the first time domain resource may be limited to only the first symbol of the slot. In this case, the second field need only indicate the position of the slot in which the first resource is located in the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, in order to increase the indication granularity and shorten the length of the field indicating the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource, helping to reduce signaling overhead.

For example, S _max =8. The second field in the search space transmitted to the first terminal device is [1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]. If the duration field in the CORESET associated with the search space indicates 3, it indicates that the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is the first symbol of the first slot in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, and the number of symbols is 3. In other words, in a scenario in which the symbols of the first time domain resource are consecutive, the first time domain resource is the first to third symbols of the first slot of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH, i.e., symbols 0 to 2 (symbol numbering starts from 0). The terminal device monitors the PDCCH at symbols 0 to 2 of the first slot of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH. In a scenario where the symbols of the first time domain resource are separated, when _Smax = 8, the first time domain resource is the first and ninth symbols of the first slot and the third symbol of the second slot of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH, i.e., symbols 0 and 8 of the first slot and symbol 2 of the second slot (symbol numbers start from 0). The first terminal device monitors the PDCCH at symbols 0 and 8 of the first slot and symbol 2 of the second slot of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH.

As another example, S _max =8. The second field in the search space transmitted to the first terminal device is [0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]. If the duration field in the CORESET associated with the search space indicates 2, it indicates that the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is the first symbol of the second slot in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, and the number of symbols is 2. In other words, in a scenario in which the symbols of the first time domain resource are consecutive, the first time domain resource is the first and second symbols of the second slot of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH, i.e., symbols 0 and 1 (symbol numbering starts from 0). The terminal device monitors the PDCCH at symbols 0 and 1 of the second slot of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH. This corresponds to monitoring the PDCCH at symbols 14 and 15 in the PDCCH monitoring span. In a scenario where the symbols of the first time domain resource are separated, when _Smax = 8, the first time domain resource is the first and ninth symbols of the second slot of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH, i.e., symbols 0 and 8 of the second slot (symbol numbering starts from 0). The first terminal device monitors the PDCCH at symbols 0 and 8 of the second slot of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH.

In another possible implementation, the first time domain resource configuration includes an offset corresponding to the first time domain resource, where the offset indicates a starting symbol of the first time domain resource in the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. In other words, the network device indicates a starting symbol of the first time domain resource by indicating the offset. The offset corresponding to the first time domain resource may be understood as an offset number of symbols of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource relative to the first symbol of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

In some embodiments, the search space includes a third field indicating the offset. In this way, since the third field indicates the offset, the terminal device can more directly obtain the offset corresponding to the first time domain resource to obtain the position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource.

The third field may be referred to as a time offset index within one detection timeOffsetIndexWithinOneDetection field, a time offset index within a span timeOffsetIndexWithinSpan field, a time offset within a span timeOffsetWithinSpan field, a symbol offset within a span symbolOffsetWithinSpan field, or a symbol offset index within a span symbolOffsetIndexWithinSpan field. Indeed, in other embodiments, the third field may alternatively have other names. The names of the third field are not limited by this application.

Specifically, the search space further includes a field indicating the starting symbol of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. For example, the monitoring symbols within time unit field in the search space indicates the starting symbol of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. The length of the monitoring symbols within time unit field may be 14, and the indication is performed by using S symbols as granularity. It can be understood that S symbols are used as a symbol unit or symbol set for the indication. For example, the monitoring symbols within time unit field may indicate that the starting symbol of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is symbol i×S ((i×S+1)th symbol) by setting bit i to 1. As another example, the monitoring symbols within time unit field is a bitmap, and when the i-th bit of the monitoring symbols within time unit field is 1, it indicates that the starting symbol of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is symbol i×S. The field of the start symbol of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission may alternatively be referred to as one of a monitoring symbols unit within time unit field, a monitoring symbols set within time unit field, or a monitoring symbols group within time unit field.

The third field in the search space indicates the starting symbol in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource. The duration field in the CORESET indicates the number of symbols of the first time domain resource.

In an embodiment, the third field may be combined with the duration field to indicate an offset corresponding to the first time domain resource.

For example, the value indicated by the third field is _Oin . In a scenario where the symbols of the first time domain resource are contiguous, the offset corresponding to the first time domain resource among the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is _Oin x D. In other words, the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is the ( _Oin x D+1)th symbol in the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. D is the value indicated by the duration field. The value of _Oin ranges from 0 to _Smax -1. In a scenario where the symbols of the first time domain resource are disjoint, the offset corresponding to the first time domain resource among the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is _Oin . In other words, the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is the ( _Oin +1)th symbol in the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. D is the value indicated by the duration field. The value of _Oin ranges from 0 to _Smax -1.

In this way, the first terminal device can obtain the starting symbol of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission based on a field in the search space indicating the starting symbol of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, determine the starting symbol of the first time domain resource in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission based on the third field and the duration field in the CORESET, and determine the number of symbols of the first time domain resource based on the duration field in the CORESET to determine the position of the first time domain resource among the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

Optionally, the duration field in the CORESET may further indicate the number of symbols Q = D x S of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, where D is the value indicated by the duration field. In this solution, the number of symbols of the time domain resources in each group is the same in the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

For example, in the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in FIG. 7A, when the SCS is 480 kHz, S=4, and the symbols of the first time domain resource are continuous, if the monitoringSymbolsWithinTimeUnit field is [1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0], the duration field indicates 2 (i.e., D=2), and the third field indicates 3, it indicates that the offset of the starting symbol of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission in the monitoring span is 0 symbols (symbol 0), the number of symbols of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is 2×4=8, and the offset corresponding to the first time domain resource in the PDCCH monitoring span is 3×2=6. In other words, the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is the 7th symbol in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, and the number of symbols of the first time domain resource is 2. In other words, the first time domain resource is the seventh and eighth symbols (symbols 6 and 7) in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. The first terminal device monitors the PDCCH at the seventh and eighth symbols in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

As another example, in the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in Figure 7B, when the SCS is 480 kHz, S = 4, and the symbols of the first time domain resource are consecutive, if the monitoringSymbolsWithinTimeUnit field is [0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0], the duration field indicates 3 (i.e., D = 3), and the third field indicates 1, it indicates that the offset of the starting symbol of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is the (2 x 4 = 8)th symbol, the number of symbols of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is 3, and the offset of the first time domain resource among the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is 1 x 3 = 3. In other words, the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is the 4th symbol in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, and the number of symbols of the first time domain resource is 3. In other words, the first time domain resource is the fourth to sixth symbols in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, and corresponds to symbols three to five in the monitoring span. The first terminal device monitors the PDCCH at the fourth to sixth symbols in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

In some other embodiments, CORESET includes a field indicating the offset.

In this solution, the field indicating the offset can indirectly indicate the starting symbol of the first time domain resource or can indicate the starting symbol of the first time domain resource among the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. The CORESET also includes a duration field, the meaning of which is the same as that of the duration field in the previous embodiment in which the search space includes a field indicating the offset.

In one example, the network device may set an associated CORESET number for the search space. The first terminal device may obtain the associated CORESET number based on the search space to receive the PDCCH on the first time domain resource, obtain the corresponding CORESET field based on the CORESET number, and obtain the position of the first time domain resource based on the CORESET field. Different CORESET numbers correspond to different offsets, and different CORESET numbers may correspond to the same duration field and/or the same frequency domain position.

In another example, the search space includes a first CORESET set associated with the search space, the first CORESET set includes an offset, and the CORESET includes a field indicating the number of the first CORESET set. Specifically, the network device may set the number of the associated first CORESET set for the search space, and the network device and the first terminal device determine the CORESET number corresponding to the first terminal device in the first CORESET set based on the downlink control information (DCI) setting or according to a predefined rule. For example, the numbers of CORESETs included in a CORESET set whose number is p are {p×S, p×S+1, ..., p×S+S-1}, and the CORESETs in the CORESET set have the same lifetime field and the same frequency domain position. Then, the first terminal device determines the CORESET field corresponding to the first terminal device based on the CORESET number corresponding to the first terminal device, obtains the position of the first time domain resource, and receives the PDCCH on the first time domain resource.

The following specifically describes a solution in which a terminal device acquires a first time domain resource in a manner agreed upon with a network device.

In some embodiments, the first time domain resource is determined based on one or more of an identifier ( identifier , ID) of the first terminal device, a slot index, and an amount of monitoring time within the current period. The network device and the first terminal device determine a position of the first time domain resource among the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission based on one or more of an identifier ( identifier , ID) of the first terminal device, a slot index, and an amount of monitoring time within the current period.

Specifically, the network device and the first terminal device determine the positions of Q consecutive symbols of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission based on a field included in the search space and/or CORESET that indicates the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

The network device and the first terminal device then determine an offset within the Q consecutive symbols based on one or more of the identifier ( identifier , ID) of the first terminal device, the slot index, and the amount of monitoring time within the current period.

The network device may group the terminal devices based on the identifiers of the terminal devices, and may divide the terminal devices into a plurality of user groups, each user group corresponding to a different offset, and the network device may determine the position of the time domain resource corresponding to each user group in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission based on the offset of each user group. The first terminal device determines the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission based on the search space and/or the field in the CORESET, determines the offset of the group to which the first terminal device belongs in Q consecutive symbols based on the identifier of the first terminal device, and determines the position of the time domain resource corresponding to the user group to which the first terminal device belongs in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission based on the offset.

The offset may be determined in one of the following ways:

For example, the offset may be determined based on the identifier of the terminal device, where the offset is O _sym = mod(ID, S) x D, where D is the value indicated by the lifetime field in the CORESET.

As another example, the offset may be determined based on the identifier of the terminal device and the amount of monitoring time _kdec within the current period, where the offset is _Osym = mod (ID + _kdec , S) x D. This method is used as an example. Specifically, for example, the SCS is 480 kHz, S = 4, D = 2, and the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is symbol 0 to symbol 7. The relationship between the offset, ID, and _kdec is shown in Table 1 below.

In Table 1, the value to the left of "<=>" is the offset, and the value to the right is the symbol number (within Q symbols) of the time domain resource used by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring when the symbols of the first time domain resource are consecutive.

For example, if the ID for the first terminal device is 0 and k _dec is 0, the offset is 0 and the first time domain resource is symbol 0 and symbol 1 of the Q symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. In other words, the time domain resource used by the first terminal device to monitor the PDCCH is symbol 0 and symbol 1 of the Q symbols. If the ID corresponding to the first terminal device is 1 and k _dec is 1, the offset is 4 and the primary management source is symbol 4 and symbol 5 of the Q symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. In other words, the time domain resource used by the first terminal device to monitor the PDCCH is symbol 4 and symbol 5 of the Q symbols.

Indeed, Table 1 is used only as an example and does not constitute a limitation on the present application. In other embodiments, the values of SCS, S, and D may alternatively be other values.

The network device and the first terminal device may alternatively select an offset from the offset value set according to an agreed upon rule. Optionally, the number of elements in the offset value set may be related to the number of terminal devices served by the network device. The more terminal devices served by the network device, the more elements in the offset value set, and the fewer terminal devices served by the network device, the fewer elements in the offset value set.

In some optional embodiments, the network device and the first terminal device may determine the location of the first time domain resource based on a control channel element (CCE) offset.

For example, CCE groups or CCE sets may be defined, with each CCE group being numbered separately. Different CCE groups or CCE sets have the same CCE number, and different CCE groups or CCE sets correspond to different time domain offsets. In other words, the offset is related to the CCE group number or CCE set number. For example, the numbers of CCE group 1 (e.g., first three columns of FIG. 8A) are defined as 0 to N _cce −1 (numbers 0 to 11 in the first three columns of FIG. 8A), the numbers of CCE group 2 are defined as 0 to N _cce −1 (numbers 0 to 11 in columns 4 to 6 of FIG. 8A), and so on.

The network device may indicate the CCE group number or CCE set number by using a newly defined field in the CORESET, or may determine the CCE group number or CCE set number based on the ID.

The first terminal device and the network device determine a starting position of the first time domain resource in Q consecutive symbols based on the determined number of the CCE group or the determined number of the CCE set, and also determine the number of symbols of the first time domain resource based on the duration field in the CORESET.

For example, the duration field in the CORESET indicates 3. As shown in FIG. 8A, in the diagram of the correspondence between offset values and CCE numbers, every third column corresponds to one offset value. After the CCEs with the same offset value are numbered, the CCE with the next offset value is numbered.

As another example, CCE groups or CCE sets may be defined, where multiple CCE groups are numbered consecutively. For example, the numbers of CCE group 1 (e.g., the first three columns of FIG. 8B) are defined as 0 to N _cce −1 (numbers 0 to 11 in the first three columns of FIG. 8B), the numbers of CCE group 2 (e.g., the fourth to sixth columns of FIG. 8B) are defined as N _cce to 2N _cce −1 (numbers 12 to 23 in the first three columns of FIG. 8B), and so on. Different CCE groups have different time domain offsets. In this way, the first terminal device may determine the starting position of the first time domain resource in the Q consecutive symbols based on the CCE number offset or CCE number start value, and may also determine the number of symbols of the first time domain resource based on the duration field of the CORESET.

The CCE number offset or CCE number start value is indicated by the network device. Alternatively, the first terminal device determines the number of the CCE in the CORESET based on the ID, determines the start position of the first time domain resource in the Q consecutive symbols used to transmit the PDCCH based on the CCE number, and determines the number of symbols of the first time domain resource based on the duration field in the CORESET.

As shown in FIG. 8B, in the diagram of the correspondence between offset values and CCE numbers, every third column corresponds to one offset value. For a particular terminal device, the CCE number introduces an overall offset. When all CCEs with the same offset value are defined as a CCE group or CCE set, CCE interleaving, resource element group (REG) binding, etc. are only allowed in a CCE group or CCE set.

The CCE offset may be determined based on one or more of the terminal device's identifier (ID), slot index, or the amount of monitoring time within the current period.

In some embodiments, the offset O _cce may be determined based on the ID, specifically, O _cce = mod(ID, S) x N _cce , where N _cce is the number of CCEs in a CCE set or CCE group, and may be determined based on the setting of CORESET.

In some other embodiments, the offset Occe may be determined based on ID and the amount of monitoring time within the current period, specifically, _Occe = mod(ID + _kdec , S) x _Ncce .

The following provides some solutions for grouping the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. The following solutions may be applied to a scenario in which the symbols of the first time domain resource are contiguous.

In the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in FIG. 9A, when the first time domain resource indicated by the resource configuration is symbol 12 to symbol 14, the symbols of the first time domain resource span two slots, with symbol 12 and symbol 13 belonging to the first slot and symbol 14 belonging to the second slot.

In the grouping solution provided in this application, no cross-slot grouping is performed. In other words, the symbols of one time domain resource group are in one slot. In this embodiment of the application, the symbols of the first time domain resource group are in the same slot and the symbols of the second time domain resource group are in the same slot.

In some embodiments, the number of symbols in all time domain resource groups may be the same or different.

For example, the PDCCH monitoring span in which the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission are located includes a total of S slots (S>1), i.e., a total of S×14 symbols. The definition of S is the same as that in the previous embodiment, and the details will not be described again here. The time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission occupy D×S symbols, where D is the number of consecutive symbols set for the CORESET associated with the search space. The S×D symbols may be grouped into S time domain resource groups in an equal grouping manner. Thus, if S×D is greater than 14, the group may span slots if mod(14, ID) is not 0. As shown in FIG. 9A, when D=3, symbols 12 to 14 of the fifth time domain resource group in the PDCCH monitoring span belong to two slots, where symbols 12 and 13 belong to the first slot, and symbol 14 belongs to the second slot. Based on this case, the present application provides several grouping policies to avoid cross-time domain grouping.

In one example, when a symbol of one time domain resource group is in two slots, the slots are used as a boundary, and the symbol in one slot is combined with one or more time domain resource groups that are closest to the time domain resource group and are in the same slot, and one symbol is added to each combined time domain resource group. In the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in FIG. 9B, symbols 12 and 13 are located in one slot, and symbol 14 is located in the other slot. In this case, one symbol may be added to the time domain resource group that originally contained symbols 6-8, and the time domain resource group is modified to include symbols 6-9. One symbol may be added to the time domain resource group that originally contained symbols 9-11, and the time domain resource group is modified to include symbols 10-13. One symbol may be added to the time domain resource group that originally contained symbols 15-18, and the time domain resource group is modified to include symbols 14-18. According to the grouping policy, two slots of time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission are grouped, and the numbers of symbols in the obtained seven time domain resource groups are 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 3, and 3, respectively.

In another example, when the symbols of one time domain resource group are in two slots, the slots are used as a boundary, and the symbols in one slot are combined with the time domain resource group that is closest to the time domain resource group and is in the same slot. In the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in FIG. 9C, symbols 12 and 13 are located in one slot, and symbol 14 is located in the other slot. In this case, two symbols may be added to the time domain resource group originally including symbols 9-11, and the time domain resource group is modified to include symbols 9-13. One symbol may be added to the time domain resource group originally including symbols 15-18, and the time domain resource group is modified to include symbols 14-18. According to the grouping policy, the two slots of time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission are grouped, and the numbers of symbols in the obtained seven time domain resource groups are 3, 3, 3, 5, 4, 3, and 3, respectively.

In another example, when the symbols of one time domain resource group are within two slots, the time domain resource group is divided into two time domain resource groups by using the slot as a boundary. If the difference between the number of symbols contained in the time domain resource group obtained by the division and the number of symbols contained in the original time domain resource group is greater than a certain threshold (e.g., the certain threshold is 1), that is, the original time domain resource group contains three symbols and the time domain resource group obtained by the division contains only one symbol, one symbol in the adjacent time domain resource group is combined into the time domain resource group obtained after the division.

In the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in Figure 9D, symbols 12 and 13 are located in one slot, and symbol 14 is located in another slot. In this case, symbols 12 and 13 are used as a time domain resource group, and symbols 14 and 15 are used as a time domain resource group. The time domain resource group originally including symbols 15-17 is modified to include symbols 16 and 17. According to the grouping policy, two slots of time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission are grouped, and the numbers of symbols in the obtained nine time domain resource groups are 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 3, and 3, respectively. According to the method, the difference between the numbers of symbols in the groups obtained by the regrouping may be less than or equal to a certain threshold. It should be understood that the certain threshold is not limited to 1, and may alternatively be other values.

In another grouping solution provided herein, the number of symbols in a time domain resource group is positively correlated with the aggregation level corresponding to the time domain resource group. In other words, the number of symbols in a first time domain resource is positively correlated with the aggregation level corresponding to the first time domain resource.

The network device may select an appropriate aggregation level based on the channel conditions of the terminal device. In this way, the network device and the terminal device may determine a group of time domain resources and a group of terminal devices based on the aggregation level according to an agreed grouping solution. The number of symbols of the time domain resource group and/or the corresponding aggregation level increases in time order. The solution may be applied to a scenario where the symbols of the first time domain resource are consecutive.

For example, when a channel condition is good, a time domain resource group corresponding to a low aggregation level may be configured for the terminal device, or when a channel condition is poor, a time domain resource group corresponding to a high aggregation level may be configured for the terminal device. The network device transmits the PDCCH to the terminal device in the time domain resource group determined based on the aggregation level.

In the table, the left part of <=> indicates a time domain resource group, and the right part indicates the aggregation level corresponding to each time domain resource group. For a time domain resource group, the mth value in "{}" indicates the number of symbols in the mth time domain resource group. In other words, each value in "{}" corresponds to the number of symbols in one time domain resource group. For an aggregation level, the kth value in "[]" in "{}" is the value range of the aggregation level corresponding to the kth time domain resource group.

There are two kinds of aggregation levels. For example, based on classification 1, when the network device indicates to the first network device that the aggregation level is 8, and the number Q of symbols of the time domain resource used by the network device to transmit the PDCCH is 4, the first terminal device may determine according to Table 2 that the aggregation level 8 is included in the second "[ ]", and the number of symbols of the corresponding time domain resource group is 3. In other words, the first time domain resource is the second to fourth symbols (symbols 1 to 3) of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH.

In the solution, the network device and the terminal device may determine the time domain resource group based on the aggregation level. Correspondingly, the terminal device may alternatively determine the aggregation level when the network device indicates the time domain resource group. For example, based on classification 1, if the number Q of symbols of the time domain resource used by the network device to transmit the PDCCH is 4, and the first time domain resource configuration sent by the network device to the first terminal device indicates that the first time domain resource is the second to fourth symbols (symbols 1 to 3) of the time domain resource used to transmit the PDCCH, the first terminal device may determine that the aggregation level is 8 or 16 according to Table 2.

In some optional embodiments, the value range of elements may be added to the monitoring slot period and offset monitoringSlotPeriodicityandOffset fields. For example, the value range of the monitoring slot period and offset fields may be extended to {sl1,sl2,sl4,sl5,sl8,sl10,sl16,sl20,sl32,sl40,sl64,sl128,sl80,sl160,sl320,sl640,sl1280,sl2560,sl5120,sl10240,sl20480}, where sl32,sl64,sl80,sl5120,sl10240,sl20480 are the extended elements, and the existing definitions are still used for the values of offset in the corresponding configuration.

In the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in FIG. 10A, in some optional embodiments, each user group corresponds to one beam direction, and different user groups correspond to different beam directions. The network device transmits a PDCCH to terminal devices in each user group in the beam direction corresponding to the user group.

For example, the first user group corresponds to a first beam direction and the second user group corresponds to a second beam direction. The network device transmits a PDCCH to the first terminal device in the first beam direction and transmits a PDCCH to the second terminal device in the second beam direction.

The beam information used by the network device for PDCCH transmission may be beam information used to transmit a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or receive a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). In other words, the beam information corresponding to each user group may be beam information used by the network device to transmit the PDSCH of the user group or receive the PUSCH of the user group. The beam information indicates a beam direction.

New types of beam information may be further defined. The beam width corresponding to the new beam information is narrower than the beam width for transmitting PDCCH in a conventional manner and wider than the beam width for transmitting PDSCH or receiving PUSCH in a conventional manner. Alternatively, the new beam information includes a total of B1 beams (TCI). B1 is more than the total number of beams for channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) B1 and less than the total number of beams for PDSCH or synchronization signal and PBCH block (SSB) B3. The coverage of the B1 new beams is the same as the coverage of B2 CSI-RS beams and the coverage of B3 SSB beams.

The beam information may be replaced with TCI information or spatial relation information spatialrelationinfo. In other words, a function performed by using the beam information may be performed by using the TCI information or spatial relation information.

The terminal device may not know the beam direction in which the network device transmits the PDCCH. In other words, the network device may not need to indicate to the terminal device the beam direction in which to transmit the PDCCH.

Alternatively, the network device may indicate to the terminal device the beam direction for transmitting the PDCCH by using the CORESET or the transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state. In this way, the terminal device may receive the PDCCH by using a receiving beam direction corresponding to the beam direction for transmitting the PDCCH, thereby increasing the probability of successful reception of the PDCCH.

In some embodiments, the CORESET numbers indicated to terminal devices in different user groups are different. In other words, the network device may indicate beam information for transmitting the PDCCH by using the CORESET number. In other words, the CORESETs corresponding to different CORESET numbers have different TCI information. Optionally, the CORESET number may also indicate time domain resources for monitoring the PDCCH by the terminal device.

For example, a CORESET number associated with the search space and sent by the network device to the first terminal device indicates first beam information or first TCI information. The first terminal device can obtain the first beam information or first TCI information based on the associated CORESET number, obtain a CORESET field corresponding to the associated CORESET number, and obtain the location of the first time domain resource based on the CORESET field.
In other words, in this solution, the CORESET number can indicate the CORESET and can also indicate the beam information.

In some other embodiments, the TCI transmitted by the network device to the terminal device indicates beam information for transmitting the PDCCH and also indicates time domain resources for monitoring the PDCCH by the terminal device. For example, the TCI transmitted by the network device to a first terminal device indicates first beam information and also indicates first time domain resources.

When a network device transmits a PDCCH to a terminal device in each user group in a beam direction corresponding to the user group, beam switching is required in the process in which the network device transmits the PDCCH to multiple terminal devices. Beam switching takes time.

In some embodiments, in a resource configuration transmitted by a network device to a terminal device, the indicated number of symbols Q of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission may include the number of symbols D×S of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission to each terminal device and the beam switching guard interval G. In this solution, Q=(D+G)×S or D×S+G×(S-1). The value indicated by the duration field in the CORESET may be D or D+G.

In the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in FIG. 10B (a), when Q = (D + G) x S, each time domain resource group corresponds to one beam switching guard interval.

In the schematic diagram of the scenario shown in FIG. 10B (b), when Q = D x S + G x (S-1), each of the first S-1 time domain resource groups corresponds to one beam switching guard interval, and the last time domain resource group does not have a corresponding beam switching guard interval.

In this solution, when determining the offset, the terminal device also needs to take G into account. For example, the first terminal device may determine that the offset corresponding to the first time domain resource is _Oin × (D + G), where _Oin may be an indicated value, a value of mod(ID, S), or a value obtained according to other methods listed above.

In some embodiments, the granularity of the DMRS transmitted by the network device to the terminal device is S symbols. It needs to be defined that the minimum spacing between the position of the front-loaded DMRS and the positions of Q consecutive symbols is less than or equal to a given value. The conventional solution is that the minimum spacing between the position of the front-loaded DMRS and the position of the PDCCH symbol successfully detected by the terminal is less than or equal to a given value.

In this embodiment of the present application, a time domain resource grouping solution is provided. Correspondingly, frequency domain resources may also be grouped, and the frequency domain resources used by the network devices to transmit PDCCH are divided into multiple frequency domain resource groups. Each frequency domain resource group is used to transmit PDCCH to terminal devices in a corresponding user group.

In some implementations, the time domain resource grouping solution and the frequency domain resource grouping solution may alternatively be combined. The time domain resources and the frequency domain resources are divided into multiple time-frequency resource groups. Each time-frequency resource group corresponds to one user group. Each time-frequency resource is used to transmit a PDCCH to terminal devices in the corresponding user group, and the terminal devices in the user group monitor or blindly detect the PDCCH on the time-frequency resources in the corresponding time-frequency resource group.

It should be understood that the frequency domain resource groupings and time frequency resource groupings are for ease of explanation and are not necessarily objective and practical.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a transmission device. The implementation of the present application further provides a PDCCH transmission device 1100. The transmission device 1100 may be a network device or may be used in a network device. The transmission device 1100 includes an input/output unit 1101 and a processing unit 1102. The input/output unit 1101 may be a unit or module capable of implementing an information receiving/transmitting function, such as a transceiver, a transceiver antenna, or an input/output interface, or may be disposed in such a unit or module. The processing unit 1102 may be a processor or may be disposed in a processor. The input/output unit 1101 includes:
Transmitting a resource configuration, the resource configuration indicating time domain resources to be used by the network device for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission;
It is configured to transmit a PDCCH of a first terminal device on a first time domain resource among time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, and to transmit a PDCCH of a second terminal device on a second time domain resource among time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

According to the technical solution of the present application, the PDCCH is transmitted separately to different terminal devices on different time domain resources. In this way, when the number of symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is increased to meet the requirements of multiple users, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH on a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, and the increase in the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device can also be avoided.

The location of the first time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the first terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed manner by the first terminal device and the network device. The location of the second time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the second terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed manner by the second terminal device and the network device.

In a possible implementation, the symbols of the first time domain resource are consecutive and the symbols of the second time domain resource are consecutive. In other words, the symbols of the time domain resources in a group are consecutive. In this way, the terminal device can monitor the PDCCH in multiple consecutive symbols, so that an increase in the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device can be more effectively avoided.

In another possible implementation, the resources of the first time domain resource are separated and the symbols of the second time domain resource are also separated. For example, the symbols of the first time domain resource and the symbols of the second time domain resource are spaced apart in a comb-like fashion. In this way, the time span of the first time domain resource can be increased and the time span of the second time domain resource can also be increased, thereby improving the robustness of PDCCH monitoring in time-varying channels and increasing the probability of successful PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device.

In some implementations, the resource configuration further includes a first time domain resource configuration, the first time domain resource configuration including a starting symbol of the first time domain resource and a number of symbols of the first time domain resource. In this manner, the first terminal device may determine a position of the first time domain resource based on the first time domain resource configuration and monitor the PDCCH on the first time domain resource.

In some implementations, the resource configuration is conveyed in fields within the search space and/or in the control-resource set (CORESET) field.

In a possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first field can indicate the absolute position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource in the PDCCH monitoring span, the position of the first time domain resource is highly flexible, and the first terminal device can directly obtain the position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource according to the first field.

In another possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is carried in a second field in the search space, and the length of the second field is _Smax , where _Smax is the maximum number of slots included in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission. In this way, the first symbol of the first time domain resource can be limited only to the first symbol of the slot. In this case, the second field only needs to indicate the position of the slot in which the first resource is located in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, in order to increase the indication granularity and shorten the length of the field indicating the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource, helping to reduce the signaling overhead.

In some implementations, the first time domain resource configuration includes an offset corresponding to the first time domain resource, where the offset indicates a starting symbol in the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission of a starting symbol of the first time domain resource. In this solution, the network device indicates a starting symbol of the first time domain resource by indicating an offset corresponding to the first time domain resource. The first terminal device can obtain the starting symbol of the first time domain resource based on the offset.

In a possible implementation, the search space or CORESET includes a field indicating an offset. In this way, the first terminal device can obtain an offset based on the field to obtain the starting symbol of the first time domain resource.

In another possible implementation, the search space includes a first CORESET set associated with the search space, the first CORESET set includes an offset, and the CORESET includes a field indicating the number of the first CORESET set. In this way, the offset is indicated by an existing field. This helps reduce instruction overhead.

In some implementations, the first time domain resource is determined by the processing unit 1102 based on one or more of an identifier of the first terminal device, a slot index, or an amount of monitoring time in the current period. In this manner, the overhead of indicating the first time domain resource configuration by the network device to the first terminal device may be reduced.

In some implementations, the number of symbols of the first time domain resource is different from the number of symbols of the second time domain resource. In this way, the grouping of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is more flexible, so that actual requirements can be better accommodated.

In some implementations, the number of symbols of the first time domain resource is positively correlated with the aggregation level corresponding to the first time domain resource. In this solution, the network device and the first terminal device can determine the location of the first time domain resource based on the aggregation level. Alternatively, the network device and the first terminal device can determine the aggregation level based on the location of the first time domain resource. This helps reduce signaling overhead.

In some implementations, the symbols of the first time domain resource belong to one slot. In this way, the first terminal device can be prevented from monitoring the PDCCH across slots, and the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring is reduced.

It should be understood that the implementation of the first time domain resource is also used for the second time domain resource and the details will not be described again.

12 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a transmission device. The present application further provides a PDCCH transmission device 1200. The transmission device may be, but is not limited to, a terminal device, or may be used in a terminal device, but is not limited to such. The transmission device may include an input/output unit 1201 and a processing unit 1202. The input/output unit 1201 may be, or may be located in, a unit or module capable of implementing an information receiving/transmitting function, such as a transceiver, a transceiver antenna, or an input/output interface. The processing unit 1202 may be, or may be located in a processor. The input/output unit 1201 includes:
receiving a resource configuration, the resource configuration including time domain resources to be used by the network device to transmit a PDCCH;
The PDCCH is configured to monitor the terminal device's PDCCH during a portion of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission.

In accordance with the technical solution of the present application, when the number of symbols used by a network device for PDCCH transmission is increased to meet the requirements of multiple users, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH in a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, and an increase in the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring can also be avoided.

The location of the portion of the time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the terminal device or may be obtained in an agreed upon manner by the terminal device and the network device.

In some implementations, the resource configuration further includes a first time domain resource configuration indicating a portion of a time domain resource, the first time domain resource configuration including a starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resource and a number of symbols of the portion of the time domain resource. In this manner, the terminal device may determine a position of the portion of the time domain resource based on the first time domain resource configuration and monitor the PDCCH on the portion of the time domain resource .

In some implementations, resource settings are carried in fields within the search space and/or in fields of the CORESET.

In a possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the time domain resource portion is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first field can indicate the absolute position of the starting symbol of the time domain resource portion in the PDCCH monitoring span, the position of the time domain resource portion is highly flexible, and the terminal device can directly obtain the position of the starting symbol of the time domain resource portion based on the first field.

In another possible implementation, the first OFDM symbol of the portion of the time domain resources is the starting symbol of the slot, and the setting of the starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resources is carried in a second field in the search space, the length of the second field is _Smax , where _Smax is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first symbol of the portion of the time domain resources can be restricted to only the first symbol of the slot. In this case, the second field only needs to indicate the position of the slot in which the first resource is located in the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, in order to increase the indication granularity and shorten the length of the field indicating the setting of the starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resources, helping to reduce the signaling overhead.

In some implementations, the first time domain resource configuration includes an offset corresponding to a portion of the time domain resources , the offset indicating a starting symbol in the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission of a starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resources . In this solution, the network device indicates a starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resources by indicating an offset corresponding to the first time domain resources. The terminal device can obtain the starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resources based on the offset.

In a possible implementation, the search space includes a field indicating an offset, such that the terminal device can obtain an offset based on the field to obtain a starting symbol of the portion of the time domain resource .

In another possible implementation, the search space includes a first CORESET set associated with the search space, the first CORESET set includes an offset, and the CORESET includes a field indicating the number of the first CORESET set. In this way, the offset is indicated by an existing field. This helps reduce signaling overhead.

In some implementations, before the terminal device monitors the PDCCH of the terminal device on a portion of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, the processing unit 1202 is configured to determine the portion of the time domain resources based on one or more of an identifier of the terminal device, a slot index, or an amount of monitoring time in the current period. In this solution, the terminal device does not need to receive from the network device the first time domain resource configuration indicating the portion of the time domain resources , so that the overhead of indicating the first time domain resource configuration by the network device to the first terminal device can be reduced.

In some implementations, the number of symbols of a portion of a time domain resource is positively correlated with an aggregation level corresponding to the portion of the time domain resource. In this solution, the network device and the first terminal device can determine the location of the portion of the time domain resource based on the aggregation level. Alternatively, the network device and the first terminal device can determine the aggregation level based on the location of the portion of the time domain resource . This helps to reduce signaling overhead.

In some implementations, the symbols of a portion of the time domain resource belong to one slot. In this way, the terminal device can be prevented from monitoring the PDCCH across slots, and the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring is reduced.

It should be understood that the implementation of the portion of the time domain resource may also be used for other portions of the time domain resource monitored by other terminal devices , and details will not be described again.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a transmission device. The implementation of the present application further provides a PDCCH transmission device 1300. The transmission device may be a network device or may be used in a network device. The transmission device includes an input/output unit 1301 and a processing unit 1302. The input/output unit 1301 may be a unit or module that can implement an information receiving/transmitting function, such as a transceiver, a transceiver antenna, or an input/output interface, or may be disposed in such a unit or module. The processing unit 1302 may be a processor or may be disposed in a processor. The input/output unit 1301 includes:
The method is configured to transmit a resource configuration, the resource configuration including a first time domain resource configuration and a second time domain resource configuration, the first time domain resource configuration indicating a first time domain resource and the second time domain resource configuration indicating a second time domain resource, and to transmit a PDCCH to a first terminal device on the first time domain resource and to transmit a PDCCH to a second terminal device on the second time domain resource.

In this solution, the time domain resources used for transmitting the PDCCH are divided into a first time domain resource and a second time domain resource. In this way, when the number of symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is increased to satisfy the requirements of multiple users, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH on a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, and an increase in the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring can also be avoided.

The location of the first time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the first terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed manner by the first terminal device and the network device. The location of the second time domain resource may be transmitted by the network device to the second terminal device, or may be obtained in an agreed manner by the second terminal device and the network device.

In a possible implementation, the symbols of the first time domain resource are consecutive and the symbols of the second time domain resource are consecutive. In other words, the symbols of the time domain resources in a group are consecutive. In this way, the terminal device can monitor the PDCCH in multiple consecutive symbols, so that an increase in the complexity of the PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device can be more effectively avoided.

In another possible implementation, the resources of the first time domain resource are separated and the symbols of the second time domain resource are also separated. For example, the symbols of the first time domain resource and the symbols of the second time domain resource are spaced apart in a comb-like fashion. In this way, the time span of the first time domain resource can be increased and the time span of the second time domain resource can also be increased, thereby improving the robustness of PDCCH monitoring in time-varying channels and increasing the probability of successful PDCCH monitoring of the terminal device.

In some implementations, the resource configuration is conveyed in fields within the search space and/or in the control-resource set (CORESET) field.

In a possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first field can indicate the absolute position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource in the PDCCH monitoring span, the position of the first time domain resource is highly flexible, and the first terminal device can directly obtain the position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource according to the first field.

14 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a transmission device. The present application further provides a PDCCH transmission device 1400. The transmission device 1400 may be, but is not limited to, a terminal device, or may be used in, but is not limited to, a terminal device. The transmission device includes an input/output unit 1401 and a processing unit 1402. The input/output unit 1401 may be, or may be located in, a unit or module capable of implementing an information receiving/transmitting function, such as a transceiver, a transceiver antenna, or an input/output interface. The processing unit 1402 may be, or may be located in, a processor. The input/output unit 1401:
receiving a first time domain resource configuration from the network device, the first time domain resource configuration including a starting symbol of the first time domain resource and a number of symbols of the first time domain resource , the first time domain resource being a portion of the time domain resource used by the network device for PDCCH transmission;
The mobile station is configured to monitor a PDCCH on the first time domain resource based on the first time domain resource configuration.

In this solution, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH in a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission. In this way, when the number of symbols used by the network device for PDCCH transmission is increased to meet the requirements of multiple users, the terminal device only needs to monitor the PDCCH in a portion of the time domain resources used for PDCCH transmission, and an increase in the complexity of the terminal device's PDCCH monitoring can also be avoided.

The symbols of the first time domain resource may be contiguous or disjoint.

In a possible implementation, the setting of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource portion is carried in a first field in the search space, and the number of symbols in the first field is 14×S _max , where S _max is the maximum number of slots of the PDCCH monitoring span. In this way, the first field can indicate the absolute position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource within the PDCCH monitoring span, the position of the first time domain resource is highly flexible, and the terminal device can directly obtain the position of the starting symbol of the first time domain resource based on the first field.

The present application provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions. The computer instructions instruct a server to perform a PDCCH transmission method provided in any one of the implementations described above.

It should be further understood that the terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and various numbers used herein are used merely for distinction purposes for ease of explanation and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" used herein describes only the association relationship between related objects and indicates that three relationships may exist. For example, A and/or B may represent three cases: only A exists, both A and B exist, and only B exists. Additionally, the character "/" used herein generally indicates a "logical or" relationship between related objects.

It should be understood that the sequence numbers of the processes do not imply an execution order in various embodiments of the present application. The execution order of the processes should be determined according to the functions and internal logic of the processes, and should not be construed as any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

In combination with the examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein, those skilled in the art may realize that the units and algorithms may be implemented by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether the functions are performed by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but the implementation should not be considered to go beyond the scope of this application.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that for convenience and brevity of description, the detailed operation processes of the aforementioned systems, devices and units are referred to the corresponding processes of the method embodiments. The details will not be described again here.

In some embodiments provided herein, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the described device embodiments are merely examples. For example, the division into units is merely a logical division of functions, and may be other divisions in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into other systems, or some features may be ignored or not implemented. Moreover, the shown or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented by using some interfaces. Indirect couplings or communication connections between devices or units may be implemented in electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and the parts shown as units may or may not be physical units, located in one location, or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected based on actual requirements to achieve the objectives of the solution of the embodiment.

Furthermore, the functional units of the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processing unit, or each of the units may exist physically alone, or two or more units may be integrated into a single unit.

When the function is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, the function may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be essentially, or a part of the contribution to the current technology, or a part of the technical solution may be implemented in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes some instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in the embodiments of the present application. The storage medium includes any medium that can store program code, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The sequence of steps of the method in the embodiments of the present application may be adjusted, combined, or deleted based on actual requirements.

Modules within the device in the embodiments of the present application may be combined, divided, or removed based on actual requirements.

In summary, the above embodiments are merely intended to describe the technical solutions of the present application, and are not intended to limit the present application. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the above embodiments, those skilled in the art may still modify the technical solutions described in the above embodiments, or make equivalent substitutions to some technical features thereof, without departing from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims (17)

A physical downlink control channel transmission method, comprising:
transmitting, by a network device, a resource configuration, the resource configuration indicating time domain resources to be used by the network device for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission;
transmitting, by the network device, a PDCCH of a first terminal device on a first time domain resource among the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, and transmitting a PDCCH of a second terminal device on a second time domain resource among the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission ;
The resource configurations are carried in a search space, the search space carrying a time domain resource configuration for each of the first time domain resource and the second time domain resource, the search space carrying each time domain resource configuration includes a field carrying a setting of a start symbol of the time domain resource corresponding to the time domain resource configuration, the position of a bit in the field corresponds to the position of the start symbol of the corresponding time domain resource in the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission, the number of bits in the field is 14×S _max or S _max , S _max is the maximum number of slots included in a PDCCH monitoring span,
If the number of bits of the field is Smax _, the start symbol of the corresponding time domain resource is the first symbol of any one of the slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span.
method. The search space carrying each time domain resource configuration further comprises a duration field indicating the number of symbols of the time domain resource corresponding to the time domain resource configuration .
The method of claim 1. the number of symbols of the first time domain resource is positively correlated with an aggregation level corresponding to the first time domain resource;
The method according to claim 1 or 2 . A PDCCH transmission method, comprising:
receiving, by a terminal device, a resource configuration, the resource configuration comprising time domain resources to be used by the network device for transmitting a PDCCH;
monitoring, by the terminal device, a PDCCH of the terminal device on a portion of the time domain resources used by the network device for PDCCH transmission ;
The resource configuration is carried in a search space, the search space carrying a time domain resource configuration for the portion of the time domain resource, the search space carrying the time domain resource configuration includes a field carrying a setting of a starting symbol of the portion, a position of a bit in the field corresponds to a position of the starting symbol of the portion in the time domain resource, the number of bits of the field is 14×S _max or S _max , S _max is the maximum number of slots included in a PDCCH monitoring span,
If the number of bits of the field is Smax _, the start symbol of the portion is a first symbol of any one of slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span;
method. the search space carrying each time domain resource configuration includes a number of symbols of the portion of the time domain resource.
The method according to claim 4 . a number of symbols of the portion of the time domain resource is positively correlated with an aggregation level corresponding to the portion of the time domain resource.
6. The method according to claim 4 or 5 . A physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission method, comprising:
receiving, by a terminal device, a resource configuration transmitted by a network device in a field in a search space , the search space including a monitoring slot period and offset field, a duration field, and a time domain resource starting symbol setting field, the monitoring slot period and offset field indicating a monitoring period and a monitoring offset of a PDCCH, the duration field indicating a total number of slots included in a duration during which monitoring needs to be performed continuously within one monitoring period, the time domain resource starting symbol setting field indicating a starting symbol setting of a time domain resource assigned to the terminal device in a PDCCH monitoring span within the duration, a bit position in the time domain resource starting symbol setting field corresponds to a position of the starting symbol of the time domain resource in the PDCCH monitoring span, the number of bits of the time domain resource starting symbol setting field is _Smax , _Smax is the number of slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span, and the starting symbol of the time domain resource is a first symbol of any one of the slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span ;
determining, by the terminal device, a period during which the terminal device monitors the PDCCH within the PDCCH monitoring span based on the resource configuration . A physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission method, comprising:
and transmitting, by a network device, a resource configuration to a terminal device in a field in a search space, the search space including a monitoring slot period and offset field, a duration field, and a time domain resource starting symbol setting field, the monitoring slot period and offset field indicating a monitoring period and a monitoring offset of a PDCCH, the duration field indicating a total number of slots included in a duration during which monitoring needs to be performed continuously within one monitoring period, the time domain resource starting symbol setting field indicating a starting symbol setting of a time domain resource assigned to the terminal device in a PDCCH monitoring span within the duration, a bit position in the time domain resource starting symbol setting field corresponds to a position of the starting symbol of the time domain resource in the PDCCH monitoring span, the number of bits of the time domain resource starting symbol setting field is _Smax , _Smax is the number of slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span , and the starting symbol of the time domain resource is a first symbol of any one of the slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span ;
The resource configuration is used to determine a period during which the terminal device monitors the PDCCH within the PDCCH monitoring span .
method. A physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission device, comprising:
An input/output unit and a processing unit,
The input/output unit is configured to receive resource configurations in fields in a search space, the search space including a monitoring slot period and offset field, a duration field, and a time domain resource starting symbol setting field, the monitoring slot period and offset field indicating a monitoring period and a monitoring offset of a PDCCH, the duration field indicating a total number of slots included in a duration during which monitoring needs to be performed continuously within one monitoring period, the time domain resource starting symbol setting field indicating a starting symbol setting of a time domain resource assigned to the transmission device in a PDCCH monitoring span within the duration, a bit position in the time domain resource starting symbol setting field corresponds to a position of the starting symbol of the time domain resource in the PDCCH monitoring span, the number of bits of the time domain resource starting symbol setting field is S _max , S _max is the number of slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span, and the starting symbol of the time domain resource is the starting symbol of any one of the slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span,
The processing unit is configured to determine a period during which the transmission device monitors the PDCCH within the PDCCH monitoring span based on the resource configuration .
Device. A physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission device, comprising:
An input/output unit and a processing unit,
The input/output unit is configured to transmit a resource configuration in a field in a search space to the terminal device , the search space including a monitoring slot period and offset field, a duration field, and a time domain resource starting symbol setting field, the monitoring slot period and offset field indicating a monitoring period and a monitoring offset of a PDCCH, the duration field indicating a total number of slots included in a duration during which monitoring needs to be performed continuously within one monitoring period, the time domain resource starting symbol setting field indicating a starting symbol setting of a time domain resource assigned to the terminal device in a PDCCH monitoring span within the duration, a position of a bit in the time domain resource starting symbol setting field corresponds to a position of the starting symbol of the time domain resource in the PDCCH monitoring span, the number of bits of the time domain resource starting symbol setting field is S _max , S _max is the number of slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span, and the starting symbol of the time domain resource is the starting symbol of any one of the slots included in the PDCCH monitoring span,
The resource configuration is used to determine a period during which the terminal device monitors the PDCCH within the PDCCH monitoring span .
Device. 1. An apparatus having a processor, comprising:
the processor is coupled to a memory, the memory configured to store computer instructions;
The processor executes the computer instructions to cause the device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 3 and claim 8 .
Device. 1. An apparatus having a processor, comprising:
the processor is coupled to a memory, the memory configured to store computer instructions;
The processor executes the computer instructions to cause the device to perform the method of any one of claims 4 to 7.
Device. A communication system comprising: a transmission device according to claim 9 ; and a transmission device according to claim 10 . A method comprising :
A computer-readable storage medium. A method comprising:
A computer-readable storage medium. A processor and an interface,
A circuit configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in a memory to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 3 and claim 8 . A processor and an interface,
A circuit configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in a memory to perform a method according to any one of claims 4 to 7.

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